Milton Keynes College announces redundancies

MK College is being forced to make 30 staff redundant due to government cuts, the Citizen can reveal.

Principal Julie Mills said the decision was “incredibly difficult” to make but it was necessary to protect the future of the college.

The entire staffing structure will be reviewed in order to make the redundancies but the college says no current courses will be affected.

An announcement from the college stated: “Ten unbroken years of cuts to Government funding in Further and Adult Education has resulted in a curriculum delivery model that independent research shows is no longer fit for purpose.”

Dr Mills said: “It is with regret that the review of our staffing structure will result in redundancies... We recognise that this is a difficult period for those employees (and their families) impacted by this review. We will be working with them throughout a consultation period to explore all possibilities, and our focus is to support them while maintaining a high-quality experience for our learners and partners.”

MK College is one of the region’s leading education providers and in recent years it has seen significant investment and growth in both staff and facilities.

But over the past nine years, further education and Adult education budgets have been slashed by £3.3b nationally.

Dr Mills said: “We passionately believe we have the employer relationships, facilities, staff and scale to offer quality vocational education that truly prepares students for work... We will continue to fight to highlight the incredible achievements of our students”

MK College employs 1,552 staff in full of part time roles. The 30 redundancies will not affect current students and no courses will be scrapped, said Dr Mills.